BY AKUDORO GLORIA
Aba Power Limited Electric (APEL), a subsidiary of Geometric Power Limited said it is working towards securing additional natural gas supplies from its partners to enhance electricity delivery across nine of the 17 Local Government Areas (LGAs) within its franchise area.
This initiative is coming on the heels of a planned facility maintenance exercise by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN) in readiness for the commencement of regular operations on the Alaoji-Aba 132kV line.
The Managing Director, APEL, Ugo Opiegbe, in a statement, explained that TCN is planning to service the line to ensure regular and quality bulk power supply to the Aba Ringfenced Area, managed by Aba Power Limited Electric.
Opiegbe further hinted that discussions have been ongoing with the NNPCL and Heirs Energies, operators of Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17, located in Owaza community, in Ukwa West LGA of Abia State, to secure increased gas supplies to the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant, located in Osisoma Industrial Layout, Aba.
The NNPCL and Heirs Energies jointly own Oil Mining Lease (OML) 17, located in the Owaza community in Ukwa West LGA of Abia State, with Heirs Energies as the operator.
“We have, been in talks with the NNPCL and Heirs Energies, to increase gas supply to the 188-megawatt Geometric Power Plant, in Osisoma Industrial Layout, to enable us to provide electricity to the people, businesses, and communities in the nine LGAs that we cover, and they have pledged to do their best to give us increased gas,” said Opiegbe.
An Electric Power Consultant, Cliff Eneh, who stated that Geometric Power Plant, receives gas from a 27-kilometre gas pipeline, built to the OML, claimed that due to insufficient gas supplies to Geometric Power plant that the firm has been augmenting its power generation with supplies from the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), which uses TCN’s 133kV and 330kV lines to make them available to the Geometric Power Plant.
Eneh said, “This is why Aba residents and businesses might be affected by the scheduled one-week maintenance work on the Line, though Geometric Power has taken proactive steps to either minimise the impact on the customers or reduce it to the barest minimum.”
He commended the collaboration between Geometric Power, TCN, and NDPHC, emphasizing that the impact of the planned TCN shutdown could be avoided, if gas supplies to the 188MW plant is sufficient.
Eneh recalled that between October and November 2024, during the nationwide outages, residents in the Aba Ringfence were not affected by the power disruptions. This he attributed to an improvement in gas supply during that period, facilitated by the NNPCL and Heirs Energies.
Eneh expressed hope that the plant, once fully operational with sufficient gas, would not only supply uninterrupted electricity to all nine LGAs under its coverage, but would also contribute to the national grid.